Tubular furniture construction



May 20 1958 F. J. vALTRl 2,835,317

` TUBULAR'FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 28, 1955- ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent@ TUBULAR FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Frank J. valfri,Philadelphia, Pa. y Application February 28, 1955, Serial No. 491,000

6 Claims. (Cl. 155-196) This invention relates to tubular furnitureconstruction, and more particularly relates to means for detachablyassembling the components of tubular chairs.

Tubular furniture has become highly popular With the consuming publicduring the last few years, especially as a furniture style for dinettesets, which generally include a table and four or six chairs. As a rule,tubular chairs are formed with a seat and back rest supported byappropriate tubular members. The seat generally comprises a woodenframe, rectangular in construction, on which is mounted a layer of woodor composition board. To this layer is generally secured a sheet of foamrubber, and the ensemble is upholstered with a plastic covering whichmay be of any desired color. The back rest is similar in overallconstruction to the seat.

The seat and back rest are generally supported by three tubularmembers,` two of which are of a Z-shaped configuration and adapted toprovide, respectively, a front leg for the chair, a support for the seatand a support for the back rest. The third tubular member is bent in amanner to provide the two back legs of the chair and a U-shaped seatsupport. In the usual construction, the seat support portion of one ofthe Z-shaped members is arranged, below the seat frame, in contiguousand parallel relation to one of the sides of the U-shaped seat support,and the seat support portion of the other Z-shaped member is similarlyarranged in contiguous and parallel relation to the other side of theU-shaped support.

The usual mode of securing the chair seat to the tubular members is topunch holes through the seat support sections of the Z-shaped membersand to insert screws therethrough into the wooden seat frame. Thereupon,the third tubular member is spot Welded to the Z-shaped members alongits portions which are contiguous there with.

The foregoing construction has numerous disadvantages. In the firstplace, the chairs, after assembly, cannot be disassembled or knockeddown for shipping. Thus, they occupy an excessive amount of shippingspace, thereby limiting the quantity of chairs which may be shipped in agiven load and adding greatly to the overall expense of shipment andsale. In addition, considerable diiiculty is encountered in handling thechairs when shipped, with the result that the finish thereof is oftensubjected to scratches and other damage.

Another disadvantage of the conventional construction Y is that thewelds securing the tubular members together often shear when the chairwas subjected to excessive stress, causing it to collapse. In addition,the expense of the welding operation greatly adds to the ultimate costof the chairs.

It is accordingly the object of this invention to overcome the foregoingdisadvantages in the manufacture of tubular chairs. More particularly,one of the chief objects of this invention is to provide means whereby atubular chair may be detachably assembled, and whereby it may bedisassembled, or knocked down, for shipment.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means for assemblinga tubular chair which eliminates the welding operation.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a structure for atubular chair which will greatly strengthen the chair assembly, ascompared with current practices, and which will maintain the chair inassembled form more rmly and rigidly than has heretofore been achieved.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a structure fortubular chairs by which such chairs may be inexpensively and quicklyassembled at greatly reduced overall manufacturing expense.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a knock down tubularchair having a pair of contiguous, parallel, tubular seat supportmembers below the seat thereof, la pair of spaced slots longitudinallydisposed in the contiguous tubular portions, a pair of complementalindentations formed, respectively, in the abutting Walls of thecontiguous tubular portions intermediate of the slots, a U-shaped clipbridging the slots and having dependent prongs for engagement with theslots and an aperture axially aligned with the clearance formed by thecomplemental indentations, and means for detachably securing the clip tothe chair seat.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will Vappear from thefollowing detailed description of a pre- Fig. 2 is an enlarged,fragmentary, exploded view, in

perspective, of the seat assembly means of the chair of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary View, partially broken away, of theseat assembly means looking in the direction of the angled arrowsIll-lli in Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken as indicated by the angled arrows IVIVin Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary View in plan of the assembled means looking inthe direction of the angled arrows V-V in Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, but with the clip and screw of thefastening means removed.

In Fig. l of the drawings is shown a tubular chair incorporating apreferred embodiment of this invention. The chair is formedwith a seat10, a back rest 11 and three separate, integrally formed, tubularmembers 12, 13 and 14, all of uniform outside diameter. Tubular member12 is of Z--shaped configuration and provides a back rest support 16, anelongated seat support portion 17 and a front leg 13. Tubular member 13is likewise of Z-shaped configuration and provides a second back restsupport 19, elongated seat support portion 20 and front leg 21. Tubularmember i4 is formed to provide rear legs 23 and 2d and a continuousU-shaped seat support having side portions 25 vand 26 and a frontportion 27. In assembly, the seat support portion 20 of tubular member13 is parallel to and contiguous with side portion 25' of tubular member14, and seat support portion 17 of tubular member 12 is parallel to andcontiguous with the other sideportion 26 of tubular member id. The seatsupport portions 17, 2d, 25, 26 and 27 all lie in the same,substantially horizontal, plane. Seat 10 is formed with the usual woodframe 23, which is designed to rest on the support provided by tubularportions 17, 20, 25, 26 and 27 in a conventional manner.

In the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings, the seat 10 isdetachably secured to the tubular members 12, 13 and 14 in the followingmanner. As shown in sessel? Fig. 6, a centrally disposed, longitudinalslot 30 is formed in each of the two contiguous tubular portions Ztl and25, such slots being formed so as to be in opposing and spacedrelationship to each other. Intermediate of the slots complementedindentations 31 are formed in the abutting walls or" the tubularportions so as to provide a clearance 3,2 therebetween. A U-shaped clip33 having a bridge portion 34 and dependent prongs 35 spans the distancebetween-'fthe slots 30. The prongs 35 are designed to enterslots 3i). Tofacilitate entry, one side edge of each prong 35 is formed with a notch36 tor engagement with the tubular walls and the other side edge has itslower corner 37 rounded, all as best shown in Fig. 2. Bridge 34 of clip33 is formed with a countersunk aperture 33 axially aligned withclearance 32.

In assembling the chair, the tubular members l2, 13 and 14 arepositioned below seat il@ in a manner to bring slots 3th into properlyspaced and opposed relationship. Thereupon, the prongs 35 of clip,33 areinserted into the slots 36 and the shank of a screw 39 is insertedthrough aperture 38 and clearance 32 and screwed into wooden seat frame255, as best shown in Fig. 4.

in assembling a tubular chair in accordance with this invention, it ispreferred that the assembly means above described be provided at fourspaced locations under the seat, preferably adjacent to each of the fourlegs, as shown in Fig. 1. ln utilizing the invention hereof, the chairneed not be assembled until after it has been shipped and, indeed, maybe sold in knocked down form to the ultimate consumer who may easilyassemble it after purchase.

While a preferred embodiment of this invention has been particularlydescribed and illustrated, it is to be understood that variousmodifications and changes in the shape, proportion and arrangement ofthe parts may be resorted to without departing from the scope of theappended claims. For example, tie slots 30 and pendent prongs 35 may bedispensed with entirely and in lieu thereof a ciip usedwhich is designedto span completely over the contiguous tubes. ln such arrangement, theends of the clip would be curved to conform to the curvature of theoutside walls of the tubes, and would be mounted in abuttingrelationship therewith.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. ln a knock down tubular chair, a seat, a plurality of contiguoustubular seat support members below the seat, each such member having alongitudinally disposed slot therein, a clip having integrally formeddependent prongs adapted to engage the slots, a notch formed in one sideedge of each prong adapted to interlock with the tubular wall andprovide a pivot about which the clip is inserted into the slots, theterminal end of each notch in each prong being spaced from the oppositeside edge of the prong a distance substantially equal to the length ofthe slot in which the prong is engaged, and means for detachablysecuring the clip to the chair seat.

2. The invention of claim l wherein each prong has the lower portion ofthe opposite side edge rounded.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein the slots are spaced in opposingrelation to each other and wherein a clearance is provided between theabutting walls of the tubular portions intermediate of the slots.

4. The invention of claim 3 wherein the U-shaped clip is provided withan aperture axially aligned with the clearance.

5. in knock down furniture wherein a supporting surface, such as a seat,is sustained by a plurality of contiguously-arranged tubular framemembers, a clip transversely bridging portions of the frame members,said clip having ends formed with dependent means adapted to grip theframe members, a clearance between the abutting Walls of the framemembers and means passing through said clearance for detachably securingthe clip to the supporting surface.

6. The invention of claim 5 wherein each tubular frame member has alongitudinally disposed slot therein, wherein the clip` dependent meanscomprise dependent prongs adapted to engage the slots, a notch formed inone side edge of each prong adapted to interlock with the tubular walland provide a pivot about which the clip is inserted into the slots, theterminal end of each notch in each prong being spaced from the oppositeside edge of the prong a distance substantially equal to the length ofthe slot in which the prong is engaged.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,578,397 Brown Dec. `11, 1951 2,584,471 Kohen Feb. 5, 1952 2,613,957Ritter Oct. 14, 1952 2,629,157 OHerron Feb. 24, 1953 2,673,775 SilvermanMar. 30, 1954

